7. Conclusion

This chapter describes the various ways in which creep results can be processed. It should be noted, however, that with the advent of new materials, creep curves can have very different shapes to those described. For example, the creep of single-crystal nickel-base superalloys is sometimes composed (figure 19 ):

• a secondary stage in which the rate of deformation is zero for very long periods ;

• a tertiary stage where the rate of deformation increases rapidly before rupture occurs very quickly.